Winter Solstice Tree

So, the shortest day came
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries
of the snow, white, world
came people, singing, dancing,
to drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees
They hung their homes with evergreens.
They burned beseeching fires all night long
to keep the year alive.
And when the new day sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all across the ages you can hear them
echoing behind us. Listen.
All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day.
As promise wakens in the sleeping land
They carol, feast, give thanks, and dearly love their friends.
And hope for peace. And so do we here now this year.

Susan Cooper

Picture from Winter Solstice Tree